Jeb’s got an op ed in today’s Washington Post about how American capitalism is being strangled by taxes and regulations. This is total bullshit, of course, but the wingnuts eat this stuff up. I’m thinking Jeb’s taking steps to shine up his “conservative” credentials and get his name in circulation.
Meanwhile, Newt is crashing in Iowa, and Ron Paul has taken the lead. This feels a bit like hearing that Tandy computers are making a comeback and overtaking Dell. Nate Silver is giving Paul a 44 percent chance at winning Iowa.
Oh man, I pray he gets in. He won’t actually announce until after the new year, and I’m pretty sure he’d crush any chance the GOP has of uniting behind one candidate.
Actually, I think the GOP could unite behind Jeb in a heartbeat.
There is no doubt in my mind that they would unite behind Jeb.
It would meet their “Primary Directive:”
Do THAT which pisses-off the Liberals!
And what on Earth could possibly piss-off Liberals more than another Bush as President?
Ok – maybe having Liz Cheney as his VP running mate.
Bush/Cheney 2012!
But beyond that?
This was obviously in the pipeline before it was clear Gingrich’s campaign was imploding. A Paul win in Iowa = Romney coasting to the nomination, because Paul can’t win in the South (her doesn’t want to kill brown people for Jesus) and the remaining potential anti-Romneys (Santorum, Perry, Bachmann) are too weak. So Jeb is going to go away soon, because he won’t be needed.
“he,” not “her.”
Steve M,
Jeb may not be needed – but he may be wanted!
I just wrote this at your site, and think I’ll share it here:
‘Here’s Jeb’s opening sentence, and see if you don’t think it sounds like a campaign slogan:
“Congressman Paul Ryan recently coined a smart phrase to describe the core concept of economic freedom: “The right to rise.””
The “right to rise.”
It’s perfect!
It fits their myth that everyone’s a potential Horatio Alger.
Plus, it hits a Conservative note with promised the promise of the right-wing rising (ascension), AND, it hits the Christian note of “ascension to Heaven” perfectly.’
Sorry, I don’t usually cross-post the same comment, but I see this Op-ed as a way to test the waters, to see if he may want to to throw his hat into the Republican 3-ring circus.
Maybe I’m worried about nothing…
As I was saying! And you know they’ll vote for him. Suggested campaign motto:
Smarter than George, and only half the obvious objectionableness!
Way OT – but great for some shits and giggles.
Anyone remember the great stuff “Calvin and Hobbes” used to do to snowmen?
Well, enjoy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq8iyhMFLYE&feature=player_embedded
Kevin Phillips wrote a book on the Bush Dynasty. Jeb’s candidacy has been threatening for years. Do hope somebody, anybody in the media, puts his resume up for viewing. If anybody in the media had put up Junior’s, we wouldn’t have elected him for (proverbial) dogcatcher.
Let’s not forget Neil (Jeb’s bio runs a close second in sleeziness.) Neil’s Silverado Savings and Loan ‘venture’ cost us about $1 billion. Cost Neil 50,000 grand.
Then there’s grand-dame, Barbara, whose womb burped all these crooks. She, who visited Katrina victims, homeless, destitute, ‘camping’ on the floor of some public building. She viewed this horrifying sight and said, “They’ve probably never had it so good.”
It’s beyond time to end the dynasty.
Felicity, I don’t think I could stand to read the (probably very good) Phillips book – my distaste for the Bush clan is off the charts. Sadly, I don’t think a posting of Jeb’s resume would mean anything to most of the electorate at this point, especially to those who hate Obama. It certainly didn’t matter in the case of Junior.
I’m still pretty confident that whoever the GOP fishes out of their badly in need of a cleaning “talent” pool – that Obama will be able to dispatch them. It’s the young bucks – like Rubio, Christie, etc – that I’m afraid of, four years from now.
I swear, if Jeb gets elected, I’m gonna throw myself off the smallest bridge I can find.
Y’all know how I feel about PNAC Jebbie, he was one of the dicks who conceived the Iraq war, he should be in der schlammer mit der under Bush.
No BUSH for 100 yrs!
BTW, it ain’t taxes and regulation, what’s strangling our economy is usury, BUSH WARS, and lack O’regulation.
You would think the gift of 4 million dollars of taxpayer’s money in the Broward County Savings and Loan affair would sour some of the enthusiasm.
Erinyes – taxes and regulation didn’t get us in the economic mess we are in, and taxes and regulation won’t get us out of it. The postwar economy worked well for two reasons and to revive our economy, we have to recapture both. The US made stuff and to do that they paid workers well. We will continue to decline if we pretend that our economy will flourish on information (tech) jobs and a service economy (fry cook & bag boy). We will have to redefine what ‘fair trade’ means and lay some stiff taxes on products from countries that don’t measure up. My criteria would penalize goods from countries that don’t aggressively protect workers rights and don’t protect the environment. Canada, for example, would import tax-free. We can’t compete with countries that pay pennies per hour, have no safety standards, and dump toxic waste to poison their people. Tolerating this formula in countries that import to the US has decimated entire industries.
It’s been slow poison here. As manufacturing evaporated in the US, real wages fell. The promise of an ‘informaton economy’ was phony. Call America-On-Line tech support – you are talking to a rep in India. Many banks have laid off Americans in support jobs to outsource to other countries. Here’s the attitude Congress needs – If you want to do business in the US, grow some jobs here. I suspect there is, for any industry, an average jobs ‘footprint’. For every million in revenue, x-thousand jobs. Why not a tax incentive/penalty? Companies with a bigger domestic jobs ‘footprint’ get tax breaks.
The postwar economy PROVED that pumping money into the middle class with decent jobs would cause an explosion of demand. Those wages gets spent on stuff- and if that stuff is made here, that consumption supports other workers. The question is how to get there from here- and the first step is understanding and selling to voters the idea that ‘free trade’ has to be fair. Jeb Bush is full of bovine byproduct. Americans know they have been sideswiped by the exodus of jobs. Democrats need to break with the idea that exploiting cheap foreign labor and the environment overseas is acceptable. We cant make other countries clean up their act, but we can make it expensive if they dont. All we need to compete in the world is a level playing field and the best (and
only) way to tete there is tariffs at the dock at rates equivalent to the inequality. Let that money be used in zero-interest loans for startup manufacturing industries.
I can’t disagree with anything you wrote Doug.
I think we all can agree that the last 10 or so years has been a race to the bottom.
We’ve built a Wal*Mart economy, and how do we turn that around? Why we go after the unions, blame teachers, attack postal workers, and hold the “job creators” in the highest esteem.
I think we have reached the Rubicon; when antiwar, anti-state Ron Paul leads the pack in Iowa, it speaks volumes.
I think the Republican party will be fractured into 4 or more factions, and Humpy-Dumty won’t be put together again ( but a Frankinstein could be born).
BTW, there was a guy named Fred Kharvari who was running for Gov. in FL. last year, who had many great ideas (including a low interest state bank to help people get out of debt and make low interest loans to small business ), but he was born in Iran, so his campaign crashed.
Seems like that 1% has been oblivious to this country’s free-falling economy which made me sit up when I heard recently that after Black Friday department store Xmas buying went into a sharp decline. Retail stores count on Xmas buying for a good part of their year’s profit. Maybe the Walton clan – surely part of the 1% – given their probably reduced profits will begin to notice our free-falling economy?